Stalker Girl
by Mediancat
Summary: An AU off the second season ep Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered. What would have happened if Amy's errant love spell had affected only Buffy?


Author's Note: This is the oldest story of mine I've ever posted to this archive; I wrote this way back in the summer between _Buffy _seasons two and three. It is presented here unaltered, except for typo fixes.

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon created _Buffy; _I also use a few snatches of dialogue from the actual episode _Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered_ before drifting off into AU-land.

X X X X X

Xander stalked down the hallway. What had gone wrong with the spell? Cordelia hadn't acted ANY differently. He slammed open the library doors and overheard Giles telling Buffy something-or-other about Angel. The librarian walked into his office as Xander went up to near where Buffy was sitting. "I have a plan," he said. "We use me as bait."

Buffy answered, "You mean make Angel come after you?"

Xander said bitterly, "No, I mean chop me into little pieces and stick me on hooks for fish to nibble at, 'cause it would be more fun than _my _life."

She stood up. "Yeah. I heard about you and Cordy. It's her loss."

"Not really the popular theory."

Buffy looked up at him, a wistful expression on her face. "You know what I'd like? Why don't you and I do something together tonight? Just the two of us."

Confused, Xander answered, "Really?"

"Yeah. We can comfort each other."

He decided, what the hell, time for another bogus pickup line. "Well, would lap dancing enter into that scenario at all? 'Cause I find that very comforting." Then he grinned to let her know that, yes, that WAS supposed to be a joke. To say her reaction shocked him would be to say that the Hellmouth was a little unnerving.

Standing up from where she was leaning against the table, Buffy said with a sexy tone in her voice, "Play your cards right..."

Xander held up a hand and stopped her from moving closer. "Okay...you do know that I'm Xander, right?

Buffy seemed quite nervous, almost shy. "I don't know, I just heard that you and Cordy broke up, and I guess I was just surprised how glad I was." Whoa! She was fiddling with his shirt. If this was a joke...but she sounded serious. Very serious. All his hormonal fantasies were coming true, kind of serious. She went on, pressing her body against his, "It's funny how you can see someone every day but not really see them. You know?"

He answered, "Yeah, it's funny. And it's just getting funnier." Buffy put her finger on his lips and leaned towards him in full kissing mode. A bit late, he remembered the last time she acted like this--at the beginning of the school year. Still--as his dream came true in front of him his fears and his feelings for Cordelia vanished like trailer parks before a tornado. They were just about to kiss when--

Any said from behind them, "Xander, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Curses! Foiled again! Reluctantly--_very _reluctantly--he pulled free of Buffy and said, "Yeah, okay..."

They walked out and she turned to him. "I don't think the spell worked out right."

He said, "Oh yeah. It bombed. No biggie."

Amy looked at him coolly. "You're okay, then. You've given up on your quest to torture Cordelia?" Xander looked in the library and found Buffy's gaze--sensuous as all hell--aimed right at him. She started playing with her hair sexily.

Amy's voice dragged him back to reality. "Torture. Who needs torture? It's painful and cruel and evil. No, I'm..." he looked back into the library and turned away to save his sanity. Not to mention a ton of embarrassment. ..."okay."

"Then we're quits. No blackmail?"

"No, no blackmail," he said distractedly. "No one'll know you're a witch."

"Good." She nodded and walked off and Xander looked back in the library. He opened the door and overheard Giles.

"And then, when one of them had the, the to him temerity to have another male friend, Angel took a dull butcher knife and..."

"G-Man," Xander said, "What's with the lecture on torturing techniques?" Buffy patted her lap out of Giles' eyesight and Xander moved over to face the librarian.

"Angel has this habit of, of, causing those he loves pain and anguish around the time of Valentine's Day. Some of his methods, though bloody in the extreme, are rather inventive."

Buffy started massaging Xander's leg from behind. "Oh really," he squeaked.

Buffy got up and pressed her body against Xander's from behind as she said, "That's really all I need to know for now," she told Giles. "And don't you worry. I have no intention of going out in the next few days." She whispered in Xander's ear. "And neither will you."

"Right, then," Giles said. "I trust you will keep your word."

Xander said nervously, "Oh, I think she will, Giles," as they walked out of the library.

Hormones warred with conscience. For the moment, conscience was losing. He knew that this wasn't normal behavior. Even if Buffy had suddenly realized when Cordelia'd thrown him over that she'd loved him desperately way down in her heart, this, this...

This wasn't natural...

Oh, _shit_. It was Amy's spell. Somehow it had misfired and made _Buffy _fall madly in love with him and not Cordelia. That had to be it. He sighed. He couldn't take advantage of her like this. They walked down the hall together and he got ready for the first open moment to tell her what had happened, and then to find Amy and break the spell.

Xander never got the chance. Buffy decided to take a page from his and Cordy's book and dragged him into a supply closet. Before he could say or do anything, she threw herself on him and kissed him fiercely. Thirty seconds later, dizzy from lack of oxygen, he pulled free. "Buff," he sputtered. "What are you doing?"

"If you don't know," she said coyly, "Then Cordy must not have been doing it right." She kissed him again. Wow, those Slayer skills. He shook his head. No. This wasn't right. He couldn't let this go...on...

Well, maybe just a little while longer...

X X X X X

To Buffy's dismay, she'd had to separate from Xander during two classes that day. How could she have ever been so blind and stupid? He was the only one for her. He always had been. Crazy that it had taken her this long to notice. Crazy, that's what she'd been.

She couldn't wait to get back to him.

Well, now she was sane. Xander was hers. Angel? Who'd needed him? Why had she had such trouble killing him? Be a snap now. When she thought about how long she'd refused to realize the truth, she, she...was just _sick _inside. Sick. She'd barely paid any attention to those two classes--even less so than usual--because her vision was clouded by Xander's face. Boy, could she not wait to stay inside for a few nights...

Something shook her. "Buffy?" came a voice. "Buffy?" It was Willow. Who'd loved Xander, and probably still did. She couldn't let the two of them be alone again. Oz? Who'd want to be with Oz when they could have Xander?

"What?" she asked.

"Um...class is over, Buff. Let's go see what...Buffy, wait!" It was lunchtime! More quality Xandertime, hooray! She burst out of her seat and dashed down the hall to the cafeteria. Along the way she saw some evil that needed to be eradicated, so she slammed on them Slayer brakes.

The evil looked up. "Oh. Buffy." A look of phony concern crossed her face. "What's up?"

Like she cared. " You never really loved him, did you, Cordelia?"

"Don't think that's any of your business, Buffy." The bitch turned to walk away. Buffy grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

"I'm not through with you, Cordelia. Don't think that you can go hurt Xander and get away with it. You can't." She squeezed and Cordy yowled. Good. Pain for pain.

"Excuse me," the blonde Cordelia wannabe, Harmony, said. "A psycho defending a loser. How...quaint. Forget your Prozac this morning, Buffy?"

Buffy whirled and slammed the blonde into a locker. "Don't call Xander a loser again," she said with a distinct tone of menace in her voice. "Or next time it's _through _the locker. Got it?" She nodded. Good. "Glad we understand each other."

Releasing the girl, she ran off to the cafeteria. Her Xandertime had been crimped a bit by this run-in with the bitch squad.

Entering the cafeteria, she saw Xander sitting down at a table. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Amy standing next to him. What was she saying to him? What was she even DOING there? She strained to listen.

"...Know what to do." Xander said. "It's fun, but--it's not right."

"I told you it was a bad idea," Amy said. "Look, I'll do what I can after school. You know where. I'll do the spell, then Buffy won't be in love with you any more." Xander nodded his head like a puppet. Why, that, that--Amy was a witch just like her mother! And she cast a spell on Xander and was about to cast a spell on her to make her not love him. Why? She must want him for herself.

A witch just like her mother--and doing evil just like her mother. Oh, she had to be stopped. Fortunately, Buffy was just the one to do it.

End of the day. Got in the Xandertime, though he seemed way reluctant to go in the closet. She convinced him, though. Still, must be a side effect of the spell Amy had him under.

Amy was in p.e. Gym teacher ALWAYS kept the classes until the bell, so you had to change and get out real quick. She crept around the far wall and waited. Slowly it cleared out. Whoa, stroke of luck. Amy was leaving last. MAJOR stroke of luck. Wouldn't have to follow her.

You'd think the students in Sunnydale would learn how dangerous it was to be alone in the locker room. Ah well. No complaints from Buffy.

The witch closed her locker and jumped back. "Buffy!" she said. "What are you doing--"

Buffy smiled sweetly. "Eliminating the competition." Opening the locker door, she slammed it into Amy's head twice. She fell to the ground and Buffy knelt and checked for a pulse. Still had one. Good. Still, she should be out for a while. Teach HER to mess with Buffy's boyfriend.

She whistled merrily and left the locker room.

X X X X X

Xander was in a state of low-grade panic as he paced the classroom. Where was Amy? He couldn't do anything to reverse the spell without her.

The door opened and he turned around. "Am-" No. "Buffy!"

"Xander!" she squealed and threw herself at him.

Fifteen seconds later he broke out of the kiss. "Have you seen--Amy?" he asked.

To his surprise, she hugged him. "You're safe now," she said. "She was going to cast a spell to make me not love you! She should have known better, her mother being so evil and all, but it didn't matter. I took care of her for you."

Trying to stay casual, he said, "Oh? What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Knocked her out. She won't be bothering us for a long time." Moving in forward, she whispered throatily, "Now, how about going to your place to hole up. I mean, it's not going to be safe for me out here. " Her voice dropped an octave. "Or you in there."

"Um, in a second, Buff. Just like to make sure that she's...out of the way." With Buffy's Slayer strength who knew how much damage she could have done? Especially as irrational as she seemed to be--damn, he'd put his foot into it this time. "Um, where is she?"

"Girl's locker room." Xander quickly strode down the hall to the gym and Buffy trailed after him. He looked around to make sure no one was looking and quietly entered. Around the corner--

Amy was lying on the floor. Xander knelt down. Her pulse was okay--her breathing was shallow. Not knowing much about medicine, he was still fairly sure this wasn't good. "Well, Buff, she's out alright."

"Good!" She said cheerily. "Well, now that you know that, let's get out of here before anyone sees us." She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the locker room.

Telling her, "Um, Buff--just remembered something I need to tell Giles. Wait here." He sprinted off down the hall and rounded a corner--where he smacked into Cordelia. "God, Xander, you really are going stalker boy, aren't you?"

He said, a little out of breath, "Cordy, don't say anything. Hide until Buffy goes by. She's under a spell and might try to hurt you. Then go into the locker room and call the hospital." Seeing her about to argue, he said. "Cordy, no time. I'm not joking. You'll see what I mean." She still didn't seem sure. "Please!"

Buffy said from behind them, "Xander? Honey? What are--what are you doing? Get away from him!"

Odd of Xander to run off like that, Buffy thought as she walked down the hall. What could make him want to stay away from her? Maybe some lingering side effects of that spell...there he was! Just couldn't wait for her. She called out, "Xander? Honey? What are--" He was talking to Cordelia! Rage filled her as she stormed forward. "What are you doing?" she screamed at the cheerleader. "Get away from him!" Oh, that bitch was going down! Warned her once, no need to do it again.

Xander said, "Cordy, run!" But as the brunette turned she caught up to her and grabbed her hair, yanking her to the ground. Cordelia screamed as her neck jerked backwards and she fell to the ground. Buffy kneeled down and said, "I told you to stay away from him. You've hurt him enough already." _No one _hurt the man she loved. As Cordy moaned Buffy cocked a fist and got ready to put the fear of the Slayer into her. (God didn't always follow through.)

Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed hers, knocking her off balance. "Get out, Cordy!" Cordelia didn't need to be told twice. Holding the back of her neck, she rolled to her feet and ran off down the hall. Buffy jerked out of Xander's grip. She had to get Xander to Giles, mondo quick. That spell needed to be removed like a bad wart.

Spinning in place, she grabbed Xander and started frog-marching him to Giles' office. She told him sadly, "Please don't struggle, Xand. Anyone can break this spell you're under, Giles can." He relaxed a bit and she had no trouble at all getting him to the library.

Giles looked up as they came in. "B-Buffy. Xander. What can I do for you?"

Buffy said, "Big trouble, Giles. Amy started taking after her mother and cast a spell on Xander."

Her Watcher blinked. "Oh, really. What are the symptoms?"

"He's not acting like he loves me!" she said. "He keeps talking to these other women and doing what they want." Pleading, she asked, "Make things better, Giles, please." He looked over her shoulder at Xander and an odd, angry expression twisted his features. Then he said, "Of, of course, Buffy. Perhaps I should talk to Xander alone so I can determine exactly the extent of the problem." Xander walked into the librarian's office.

"But I can help!"

"No!" He seemed determined. "What I mean is, my observations should be untainted by yours. Thus the necessity of speaking without your presence."

"Oh." That made sense. And it wasn't like Xander would be out of her sight or anything...Giles went into the office and Buffy positioned herself to watch him through the window.

X X X X X

Cordelia ran off down the hall in tears, holding her neck. If Buffy had given her whiplash and hurt her cheerleading career, she'd, she'd...Wait. Xander had said something about Buffy being under a spell and someone needing to go to the hospital. Yeah, her! But that hadn't been what she meant...

She walked back slowly and took a furtive look around the corner. No Buffy. God! Whatever spell she was under had made her go all psycho girl, was not funny. As she walked towards the girls' locker room she twisted her neck from side to side. Ouch! She turned the corner--there was a woman lying on the floor. It was Amy! What had Buffy done? No wonder Xander wanted her to call the hospital. The girl looked dead! She backed out of the room and ran for the nearest public phone.

What had gotten into Buffy to make her go all psycho girl like that? She threw Harmony into a locker--not that Cordelia didn't feel like doing that every once in a while herself--nearly broke _her _neck, and apparently nearly killed Amy. This was _scary_. Buffy had superpowers. If she went insane there'd be a body count.

She ran into the office. Fortunately Snyder wasn't there. She told the secretary, "There's an unconscious girl in the locker room. Call 911! And I twisted my neck, um, looking at her. I might need attention too." The receptionist was used to weird stuff going on at Sunnydale, thank goodness.

As she sat and waited for the medical attention she thought for a while. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the one subject she'd been determined not to dwell on since she gave in to her friends' peer pressure.

She hoped Xander would be okay...

X X X X X

"You did what!" Giles exploded at Xander. "Don't you know the consequences of a love spell? People under its influence lose all capacity for reason. They can be deadly! And to have one cast on Buffy just because you're peeved at Cordelia is unethical in the extreme!"

Xander withstood the Watcher's verbal assault. He deserved every word of it and more. He said back, quietly, "Yeah, G-Man. I figured that out when I saw Amy lying unconscious on the locker room floor. And be fair. I meant to have it cast on Cordelia, not Buffy."

Giles said harshly, "Well, that makes all the difference. All is forgiven." He slammed his fists on the table. "Don't you understand? You are in very serious trouble here!'

"So what do we do?"

"We reverse the spell! Tell me everything you know about it." Xander said everything he could remember about the spell Amy had cast. "Well, that's a start," he muttered. "Look. You need to go back out there and do a tightrope walk. You have to refrain from taking advantage of the situation, but also refrain from outright rejection. I'd wish you luck, but right now I'm so angry at you that I'd almost consider it justice if she did beat you senseless. Just go and be careful."

They walked out and Buffy looked up eagerly. "Well? Well? Is my Xander all better now?"

"What? Oh, yes. Just the residual effects of a curse. It should have no more than minor effects in the future. Just bear with them."

"Right!" She grabbed Xander's arm and they walked towards the door. Willow entered and inwardly he cringed. She reached out to tap him on the shoulder and Buffy's arm shot out, bending Willow's fingers back.

"Ow!" she said. "Buffy, what are you--ow!"

"You're my friend, Will, so you get a second chance. Xander's off limits. Go play with your consolation prize." Xander tilted his head and saw Giles mouthing, "I'll explain" to Willow. Finally Buffy let Willow's fingers go and the two of them walked out of the library.

All the way home Buffy mentioned what she was planning to do to him tonight. Half of him prayed for Giles to speed it up; half of him hoped it would take the Watcher a little while...

X X X X X

Willow rubbed her fingers as she walked into Giles' office. The Watcher pulled her quickly into the room and watched Buffy's departure carefully. Twice in the next minute Willow opened her mouth to speak only to be silenced by a Giles hand-gesture. A rather...fervent one, for Giles. Only when Buffy was completely out of sight did he turn back to Willow.

Willow said, "Um, now I'm confused...and you haven't even said anything yet." Giles paced frustratedly around his office and stopped just short of slamming his fist into the desk twice. Finally he paused for a second and Willow grabbed his hand. "Giles, stop it! You're scaring me! Now, tell me, why was Buffy acting like that?"

"Very well, Willow. Would you like the short version of why I'm going to kill Xander, or would you prefer the detailed version?"

Willow blinked in confusion. "The...short version?"

"Very well. After Cordelia broke up with Xander, he blackmailed Amy--who apparently is a witch like her mother--into casting a love spell on Cordelia out of revenge, But the spell backfired, and instead of affecting Cordelia it affected Buffy. The spell used causes a wild and obsessive love, and so far Buffy has assaulted Amy--who is headed to the hospital as we speak--Cordelia, and now you. Further, while Xander so far has resisted Buffy's entreaties as best he could, the longer he resists the likelier it is that she will turn on him as well. Thus it is _imperative _that we find a cure."

Nodding her head in definite agreement, Willow asked, "And this urge to kill Xander is why?"

"Because Buffy is the Slayer. Only now, Buffy is a Slayer under the influence of a love spell. Not only will she neglect her Slaying duties to spend time with Xander, she has the potential to cause far greater damage than an ordinary human being under similar circumstances. It is possible that Amy and Cordelia will be forgiving. But what if Buffy's insane jealousy leads her to assault someone else? A woman off the street--or her own mother?"

Willow understood. Her fingers throbbed in mute testimony to Giles' words. This could hurt Xander, Buffy, and almost anyone. A sudden, horrid thought struck her. "What about--Angel? Under the influence of the spell--Buffy wouldn't have any problem killing him!"

The librarian paled and said, "D-do you know what I was telling Buffy, just this morning, about Angel's predilections around Valentine's Day?" Willow's face showed her confusion. "Well, then, let's just say he has this habit of leaving nasty presents for women he considers his, and this would include Buffy."

"I think Buffy can handle nasty presents."

"One of these presents included the woman's husband's severed head."

"Oh." Another horrible thought came. "Oh! Xander!"

"Precisely. And despite my earlier litany I have no desire to actually see Xander dead." He paused for a moment to think. Finally, in a small voice, he said, "I need to research the spell. But it may be that we need to ring in someone who has greater knowledge of witchcraft than myself. We need..." His voice trailed off towards the end.

"What was that, Giles? I don't think I heard you." She was lying. The words had come through audibly, she just wanted to hear Giles say the name again.

Irritably, he said, "We need Ms. Calendar. There. Are you happy?"

"Yes!" She smiled broadly, but then the gravity of the situation took over and she frowned again. "Um, shouldn't someone call the hospital to find out how Cordelia and Amy are?"

"Good idea," he said distractedly as he headed for the book cage to pull down a few books. "After you talk to Ms. Calendar perhaps you can go over. "

"Right." Willow left the library and headed down the hall, leaving a frustrated Watcher in her wake.

X X X X X

As he frequently did, Angel watched Buffy's house. He was still trying to come up with the perfect Valentine's Day present. Oh, red roses in a black box were a nice distraction, but they were just the tip of a very large iceberg. Buffy's mother was out tonight. Maybe when she came home he'd take her arms, tie them up in an nice bow, and leave the package on the front porch?

Maybe...but it still lacked a certain poetry. Another way of killing the mother--his musings were cut short when he saw, to his disgust, Buffy kissing someone on her living room couch. Xander! That pathetic worm? That lame excuse for a human being? Buffy had moved on...to _him_?

Unconsciously, his fists clenched. He ought to go over there right now and...

No. Here was his present to Buffy. If she wanted to pretend that a living man could take his place, that was fine. Now he had a choice. Should he give Buffy the boy's head--or his intestines?

X X X XX

Jenny Calendar walked towards the library, one goal in mind: talk to Rupert Giles. Grovel. Plead. Tell the silly, thickheaded British fool that she loved him. Whatever it took to get back him.

She'd betrayed her friends. She'd betrayed people she cared for, and the man she loved, just for the sake of an ancient family curse meant to torture the wrong man. They thought she was a traitor, and they were right.

Still...after all they'd meant to each other...she couldn't believe he meant to shut her out forever. Her brooding was abruptly cut off when she saw Willow race down the hall towards her. Thank goodness for Willow. Even with all that had happened, Willow hadn't abandoned her. That was how she'd known to put anti-werewolf charms on her front door.

"Ms. Calendar! Giles wants your help," the girl blurted out. On the way to the library Willow gave her a thumbnail sketch of why. Of all the stupid things--no wonder Rupert felt like homicide. If she'd had the boy in front of her she might have felt tempted to enact one of her family's old curses.

Unfortunately, Rupert was calling her in for business and not pleasure, but any reason was better than none. The two of them walked into the library together. Rupert was studying a spellbook--one, she noted with equal parts horror and amusement, that desperately needed to be kept out of the reach of most people, and every student in Sunnydale with the possible exception of Willow. It was a book of love magicks.

"Ms. Calendar," he said without looking up. "Thank you for coming."

"You should have known I'd do anything to--"

"Of course," he interrupted. "Now, has Willow filled you in on the situation?"

A bit hurt, she replied, "Sketchily, yes. Xander got someone to cast a love spell on Cordelia, but it backfired and made Buffy fall in love with him. Dangerously and obsessively in love. Now you need help in looking it up and perhaps finding a cure."

Willow said, "Giles, can I use your phone? I need to call Oz for a ride."

"Yes, of course. Now, Ms. Calendar--" Willow went to the phone and dialed.

"Jenny?" She said hopefully.

"Ms. Calendar," he reiterated twice as loudly. "I need your assistance because you have more knowledge of current spells. This may save me time and possibly Buffy's sanity--and other people's lives."

"Lives?" Willow hadn't mentioned injuries...Rupert explained that in her obsessiveness Buffy had attacked both Amy and Cordelia, and that both girls were at the hospital now. Dear goddess, this was quite serious.

"So now you understand?" Jenny nodded. "Then I would appreciate you giving me whatever help you can. Check the internet, call your friends, whatever, but we need to find out both what this spell is...and how to reverse it as swiftly as possible." His voice was stiff and cold, as if his Rupert-repression mechanisms were working double time. They probably were.

Willow hung up and said, "Oz'll be here in a few minutes. We'll go check on Cordy and Amy. Anything else we can do?"

"Normally," Rupert answered, "I would ask you to go check on Buffy and Xander. But given Buffy's performances earlier today it is unlikely she will trust you. Do you suppose Oz would be willing?" A good idea. No way Buffy'd see HIM as a threat.

"I don't know. I could ask him, I suppose." Her young friend sounded dubious. "Well, then, I'm going to go wait outside. I'll be back and help when it's done."

"Thank you--" we both said at the same time. Willow grinned, looked between the two of them, and walked off.

Turning to Rupert, Jenny said, "After this is over--"

He interrupted her again. "You know where the machine is. This is what Xander told me about the spell." Summarizing quickly, he turned back to his books.

Not this time. She walked up and closed the book. "After this is over, Rupert--" he protested and she ignored the protests--"We need to have a long talk, you and I. You mean too much to me to let this go on." Without a word, he picked up the book and resumed reading. A bit sadly, she walked over to the computer and started searching for information on the spell. If that was the way he wanted to play it, fine. Jenny Calendar was not a woman to go fruitlessly mooning after a man who showed no interest in her. Even one she loved.

Five minutes later, he quietly said, "When it's over." And despite the gravity of the situation, Jenny Calendar smiled.

X X X X X

Cordelia Chase sat in the hospital waiting room well, waiting. She'd ridden in the ambulance with Amy even though her injury wasn't nearly as serious. She'd been treated for a sprained neck and released.

Hard as Buffy jerked her around she was lucky not to have a broken neck. She knew it, she knew it, all these spells floating around had finally snapped Buffy's mind! And it's not like it was all that stable to begin with, what with her spending her free time hanging out with the undead and demon thingies and all.

She'd called Amy's father--Amy's guardian since her mother's weirdo vanishing last year--and he was on his way. Maybe she could snag a ride home with the guy, because she wanted to get out before the terminally clueless Sunnydale police showed up.

So far no one had told her about Amy's condition. She didn't socialize with Amy much--okay, she barely knew the girl's name--but she was unconscious. Even Cordelia Chase realized when someone actually was in a worse condition than she was, and mondomegafrustrating as it was going to be not _driving_ for the next few weeks, Amy's pain beat hers.

Finally a doctor came out. Holding her neck carefully still, she walked quickly up to the woman and said, "Well, how is she?"

She sighed. "The head injury is fairly severe. Her head was struck hard enough that her brain literally rattled around inside the skull--"

"Please!" Cordelia shrieked. "Spare me the gory details! Is she going to live or not?"

The doctor looked annoyed. Please! Her life was stressful enough as it was, why burden it with--she shuddered--the icky things? Sighing, the woman continued, "Probably, she'll live. But she might even have brain damage. Right now I have no idea when she's even going to regain consciousness."

Oh, dear god...what would happen if they found out Buffy did this? They might as well call up Angel and say, "Sunnydale's yours, kill whoever you want, Buffy's in jail for attempted murder." Then she realized that the doctor was waiting for an answer. She made an appropriate sympathetic noise and the doctor snorted. "I really hope she's going to be okay."

The woman walked off--and Cordelia noticed a handsome old guy walk purposefully up to the admissions desk. "I'm Mark Madison. I was told my daughter Amy had had an accident...?" Good. Amy's relatives were here, she could leave, she did not need the hassle from the police. She dodged out the main entrance as fast as she could--and ran into Willow and Oz coming into the building.

"Cordelia!" Willow piped up "Are you okay? And how's Amy?"

"My neck's sprained," Cordelia huffed. "And Amy--" she lowered her tone. "Amy's unconscious. The doctors think there might be brain damage, and she might not even live."

"Oh my god," Willow said, and Oz put his hand to his head and closed his eyes.

"Look, I need to get out of here now if I want to stay ahead of the police. Oz, could you please take me home? I can't drive with my neck like this. And on the way," she said purposefully, "The two of you can clue me in to exactly what's going on here."

The couple looked at each other nervously. Cordelia had the feeling she wasn't going to like the answer...

X X X X X

Oz suffered quietly as he ferried Cordelia to her front door. He knew the cheerleader was in genuine pain, he knew she was lucky to have escaped with her life, yet he had rarely been closer to screaming, ever. The one thing that kept him from doing so was Willow. Willow had greater reason to dislike Cordelia than anyone, and she'd begged him to put up with it.

He would put up with almost anything for Willow, but this was cutting it close. At one point he'd asked them--them being Willow and Buffy, not Xander, whose reasons had been obvious--why they put up with someone who irritated them so much. The answers had all boiled down to one thing: She's trying. Under their semi-guidance Cordelia had gone from being just a shallow, spoiled bitch to a shallow spoiled bitch who occasionally did the right thing without complaining too loudly. And she had come through in the clutch at times.

It's just that Oz wasn't used to dealing with her chatter. And right now, dealing with the stress of coming inches from having her neck snapped, she was overcompensating by babbling about everything she could think of. Different people had different reactions to injury, he guessed. So this was Cordelia's way. He could deal, he could deal.

Still, when he'd finally gotten her inside, deflected her attempts to get him to stay (nervousness, not any attempt to hit on him), and managed to get in his van and drive off, he was extremely happy. Sometimes it was hard work acting that laid back.

Um. Anyway. On to Buffy's to look in on Xander. Of course, this was all Xander's fault, but Willow wanted to be sure Buffy hadn't killed him out of jealousy. This would probably upset Willow a bit, so he saw the necessity.

It was a fairly short drive from Cordelia's house to Buffy's. It was early evening as he maneuvered the van into the driveway, carefully not blocking Buffy's mom's SUV.

A woman, late 30's, answered the door. "Yes?" She said. "Can I help you?" Oz introduced himself. "Oh!" she said. "You're Willow's boyfriend. She's not here, if you're looking for her."

"No--actually, I was looking for Xander or Buffy."

"Hold on a second." She called upstairs. "Buffy! Xander!" Xander came charging downstairs, followed seconds later by a Buffy who was definitely a few greens short of a salad. She had a look on her face that was both annoyed and predatory, as though she were a tiger Oz had just interrupted in the middle of killing dinner.

Xander looked like dinner. Ms. Summers must be as clueless as Willow had told him if she didn't notice the looks, but by god, either she didn't recognize them or she was ignoring them. "Hello, you two," she said amusedly. "Willow's boyfr--"

She never got the rest of it out. Xander sprinted over to Oz like they were lovers reunited after a war and said "Oz!" Turning back to Buffy, he said, "Sorry Buff. Guy stuff. Give me a minute." Then he shoved Oz out the door and didn't slow down until they were standing on the far side of the van. Oz noticed Buffy spying out the front window out of the corner of his eye.

"Man, you have _got _to get me out of here," he blurted out. "Right now it's only that her mother's here that's saving me. And she's going to the gallery in a few minutes!" Right then Buffy's mom walked to her SUV, jumped in and drove off with a cheery wave goodbye. All the while, Oz just looked at him. Realizing something, Xander said, "Um, you do know what I'm talking about, right?"

The guitarist nodded and said, "I would've thought you'd have liked this, though." Part of him enjoyed seeing Xander squirm.

"Not like this! It's not her choice, it's not the same as if she chose me voluntarily." Oz guessed at another reason--from the way Buffy'd been looking at Xander it was likely he was more than a little afraid, too. He peeked around the side of the van and saw Buffy looking out the upstairs window pensively.

"Willow explained this to me. So it's wrong to force Buffy to love you, but alright to force Cordelia?"

"Yes! No! It's entirely different." Oz waited patiently. "I wasn't trying to get Cordy to love me--to love me, I wanted to get her to love me so I could dump her and make her feel miserable. As bad as I felt when she did it to me."

"Oh, I see. Your motives were noble and pure."

"Look, Wolfboy," Xander said angrily, "I really do not have time for this right now. To save my skin I need to get out of here and my chances are a lot better if I'm not trying to outrun the Slayer on foot. Got me?" Suspecting he'd made him think, Oz nodded curtly. If what he said bothered Xander, well, good. That didn't solve the current problem.

"Follow my lead," he said. Then he called up to the window. "Buffy! Xander needs to come with me for an hour. Dingoes has a couple of new songs and we need a neutral test audience." The face disappeared from the window. "Get in," he told Xander. "I don't know whether she bought it or not but my guess is you don't want to be around if she didn't." He opened the driver's side door and Xander clambered into the passenger seat. Oz climbed into the van and saw Buffy throw open the front door of her house, anger twisting her features into a mask as ugly as that found on any vampire.

Not a daring driver exactly, but no choice; Oz skidded out of the driveway and took off down the street as fast as he could. In the rear view mirror he saw Buffy chase down the street after them. Maybe she couldn't outrun a van but she was certainly giving it one hell of an effort. Finally she gave up as the van rounded a corner a block ahead of her.

Xander might be in even worse trouble than he thought...

X X X X X

Buffy couldn't believe it! Oz was taking Xander away from her! Good reason or not, Oz's stupid band could wait. She sprinted down the stairs and dashed out the front door--just as the van was pulling out. Oh no, it wasn't getting away. She ran down the street after it, but finally lost it as it took a corner way over the speed limit a block or so in front of her.

In her sadness and horror Buffy saw one thing--where that van was headed.

It was going down the road to Cordelia's. The Slayer's eyes narrowed. It was time for the hunt.

She only had one stake on her, but that didn't matter, because tonight she wasn't hunting vampires.

She was hunting Cordelia.

And the bitch was going down.

X X X X X

Angel watched Xander run from the house and practically force the little geek who thought he was man enough for Willow to drive him away--and then, equal parts amusement and amazement, he watched Buffy chase down the street after the van. Something wasn't right here. Even granting the miracle that Buffy might actually date that pathetic worm Xander, there was no way she'd love him so much so quickly that she'd chase down the street screaming his name.

In a second he tossed the idea out that this was some kind of setup for his benefit, to get him to chase the boy into a trap. They just weren't that subtle, and besides, no one knew better than him what her detection range was. He carefully stayed outside it whenever he spied on her.

It hit him--she was under some kind of spell! This made things interesting. So there was another player in town, aiming for revenge on the Slayer, eh? See, it wasn't old Spikey's style--his ideas of revenge tended to involve reaching down someone's throat and pulling their heart out through it. And while Dru was more subtle, she would have difficulty organizing a game of checkers.

That Ethan Rayne character? A misguided love spell was right up his alley, no question, but there'd been no sign of the chaos worshipper for months.

Anyway, at this point why was less important than how he could take advantage of it. The boy was out of reach at the moment, and Sunnydale was small enough that eventually Xander would come to him. No, this would require some thought...the right sense of timing was crucial to these things.

He'd been thinking of bringing Dru in to help--Rollerboy sure wouldn't be of any use--but this didn't seem to call for her touch. He'd be able to handle it himself.

Now, where would the boy likely go to escape Buffy? Not his house, that was sure. The library, perhaps--no. He'd want to lose himself in a crowd, somewhere Buffy wouldn't be find him so easily. Somewhere he'd be able to get away...

Somewhere they wouldn't think of looking for him.

Not the Bronze, then. There weren't many other places that fit that description IN Sunnydale. Angel guessed it was possible in theory that the boy might try to hole up at this Oz bozo's house, but from the looks of things there was no love lost between the two.

So: time to take a quick tour of Sunnydale. He'd find Xander eventually.

Now the only problem, still, was: Head or intestines?

X X X X X

Cordelia Chase did not rattle. She didn't know exactly what she was doing in this house, devoid of people, but it wasn't rattling.

It seemed so unnatural to be home at this time of night, major school projects aside. Bitch and moan about schoolwork as she did, she actually maintained a solid B average. Let everyone think she was stupid!

Self-pity. Alone in the house and she was dwindling into self-pity. This was so nerve-wracking, she wished she had someone to call. Harmony? Please! She wouldn't care. And she'd dumped Xander--on the advice of her so-called friends, like she was their follower and not the other way around--so she couldn't call any of the rest of the "Slayerettes." And Watcher guy had major emotion hangups.

And it had taken her a while, but eventually she clued herself in that her panicked chatter had probably driven Oz away too quickly. Not that he'd be much protection against Buffy if things got, well, hairy, but still--

She would have felt safer.

She'd get through it alone. She'd gotten through things alone before...besides, by tomorrow, Willow and Giles would probably have come up with some reversal spells and everything would be okay. Well, except for her neck. And Amy, lying in the hospital...despite her little avoidance techniques, she hadn't avoided the police so much as delayed the talk. They'd visited, but had bought her explanations of "Just went in there to look for some makeup I lost, saw her lying on the floor, twisted my neck too hard, called the ambulance." But then, this _was _the Sunnydale PD, and they thought vampires were creepoid gang members on PCP.

Her mind was babbling, to avoid thinking about the situation. To avoid thinking about how she'd felt when she'd had to give Xander's beautiful necklace back--and how she'd felt when she saw him with Buffy. Damn her so-called friends for forcing her into this. It was all their fault!

No. It was all her fault. No matter their snotty comments--Harmony did snotty like no one else she knew--they hadn't chosen to break up with Xander on Valentine's Day. It was so easy to blame them--but it was really her fault. And now--and now--

When he could choose to be with Buffy, why would he come back to her?

A noise from outside the house. Cordelia jumped, her heart racing. She couldn't keep going on like this. The central alarm system was in the living room. With it turned on, she'd feel a lot safer.

Hold it--with the _Sunnydale _PD responding? Better than nothing, probably, though how much better was as debatable as her choice of clothes on a cool, humid day. Too much, and sweat just ruins the hair and makeup, too little and goosebumps destroy the complexion.

Noting she was in self-babble mode again, she shook it off.

She walked downstairs and was about to flip the switch when she heard a loud knock at the door. Carefully, quietly, she crept over and peered through the peephole.

It was Buffy. The pounding got louder and the door shook on its hinges. Through the door she could hear the Slayer screaming, "Let me in, Cordy! I won't hurt you, I just want to talk. I promise!" Meanwhile the door kept shaking, so Cordelia wasn't about to believe Stalker Girl out there.

No fool, she immediately dashed back for the alarm system and threw it on. A crack from behind her made her swing her neck--and then shriek in pain and stagger. The door was cracking. Once this Slayer gig was up Buffy might make good money as a one-woman demolition crew.

What to do now? she thought wildly. Run outside and Buffy tracks her down using her super Slayer senses, hide and Buffy finds her, fight and Buffy kills her.

Phone! She ran upstairs to her room, locked her door, and dumped a pile of clothing in front of it--all dirty, of course, she'd never treat her good clothes that way. Maybe it'd trip Buffy up when or if she found her.

A distant sound of thunder--the door'd been ripped down. Cordelia grabbed her phone and--the number! What was the library's number? Oh, God, Cordelia, don't prove yourself a ditz now, of all times! Not now! When all else fails, go by instinct. She punched in seven numbers--it rang, good thing--and then Giles' voice said, "Sunnydale Library?"

From downstairs, she could hear Buffy yell, "Cordelia, I know he's here somewhere! Tell me where he is and I'll only kill you once!" The voice frightened Cordelia. That wasn't even Buffy's normal voice. She shuddered and answered the librarian at the other end of the phone.

"Giles, it's me, Cordelia. I'm over at my house and Buffy's just broken in. She sounds like she's going to kill me! She's already busted down the front door!"

Commotion from the other end, then, "I'll be over as soon as I can. What's your address?"

Cordelia frantically blurted out the house number, then two seconds later added the street name. "I'll be there," he said. "Hide as long as you can."

"Hide? Where?" But she was talking to a dial tone.

Now what to do? She dashed to the windows and looked down. No, that was a good fifteen foot drop onto plain asphalt. Sheer suicide.

She heard Buffy pounding down the hall, saying in a chilling singsongy voice, "Cordy! Oh, Cordy...!" She opened both windows just in case a dive out the window might be, all things considered, a good idea. She looked around and for the first time in her life wished she'd been interested in sports besides cheerleading. Not a baseball bat or field hockey stick in sight, and Cordelia's computer desk chair weighed fifty pounds and would likely do Buffy's job for her if she tried picking it up. And hitting Buffy with a pillow, bathrobe, or teddy bear would do no good. Reluctantly she picked up the antique vase and waited nervously by the door.

Pounding on the door. "Cordelia! Open your door! I know you're hiding him in there. Xander? Honey? I forgive you, you're just confused...come on back! I have a present you can unwrap." Cordelia didn't say anything. "Xander?" Now the voice was angry. "Xander? Come on Xander, say something! Don't think you can make me feel like this and then run back to this bitch and just abandon me."

"Buffy, he's not in here," Cordelia said. "We broke up."

Silence, then the door flew open as Buffy screamed. Surprised, Cordelia swung the vase at her head...and missed as the Slayer caught her hand. The vase dropped to the floor and shattered when Buffy twisted her wrists.

Suddenly Cordelia found herself face up on her bed, neck again in extreme pain from the impact, then Buffy landed on her and pinned her down. In a deceptively sweet tone, Buffy said. "I see the open window. How long ago was he here, Cordy? Tell, and I promise not to hurt you."

"Like you didn't hurt Amy?" Cordelia squirmed.

"She was trying to take my Xander away from me. Just like you're doing. Come on, Cordy, talk. You wouldn't want me to have to damage your allegedly pretty face, would you? Though I have no idea what Xander ever saw in you."

Before she could stop herself, Cordelia snapped, "I was there and I was paying him some attention as a man, which is a lot more than I can say for you." Oh, good, Cordelia, insult the crazy strong woman. If you were feeling suicidal, why didn't you throw yourself out the window just now?

But to her surprise and delight, Buffy got up and sobbed. "I don't know why, Cordy. I don't know how I could have been so blind not to go for Xand when I had the chance. Just thinking about it makes me sick. Angel over him? Who could make that choice? _Why _did I make that choice?" During Buffy's speech, Cordelia edged quietly closer to the edge of her bed, ignoring the bruises on her arms and the pain in her neck. Buffy wasn't paying much attention, lost as she was in her self-loathing. Cautiously, gritting her teeth to avoid whimpering from the pain in her neck--she made ready to stand up and dash for the door.

Cordelia wasn't lamebrained enough to think she could outfight Buffy, but being a cheerleader had kept her legs in terrific condition. If she could get a good head start--she got ready to spring.

And just then the phone rang. Buffy spun around and ran to answer it, pushing Cordelia back onto the bed as she picked up the receiver. She chirped "Hello!" Slowly Cordelia stood up on the far side of the bed and walked towards the door. Without even seeming to notice, Buffy moved into position to keep Cordelia from having a clear path to the exit.

On the phone, Buffy nodded and muttered a few pleasantries, in a not bad imitation of Cordelia's own voice. Then she ripped the phone from the wall and stomped it into about a million pieces.

That was a designer phone, made especially for her delicate face and neck! It had cost Daddy a fortune! When Buffy looked at her, though, suddenly the fate of a designer phone just wasn't that important anymore, Buffy startled her and said, "That was the home security company. I'd guess the cops are on their way--which doesn't give me much time. So, tell me, Cordy--_where is he_? I throw myself at him, and he comes back to you?"

"The cops are coming, Buffy, remember?" It was a distant hope, but worth a shot.

"Thanks for stating the obvious again, Cordy. It's really one of your talents." And again she bounded across the room faster than Cordelia could dodge, this time picking her up under the arms instead of the neck. This still hurt, but at least she didn't feel like she was ready to pass out. Buffy marched her backwards to the window. She could feel herself being bent out the open window, nothing between her head and the driveway below but fifteen feet of air. "Now, _tell me _where Xander is or I push you just a little farther out and your head splatters all over the pavement."

Was that a police siren in the distance? No. What could she do? Desperately, she said the first thing that came into her head. "He's hiding in the closet!" She had a huge walk-in closet. Delay, delay...Buffy grabbed her and threw her roughly across the room in the direction of the closet door. "Open it up."

She did. Fortunately, it was dark inside. "Turn on the light."

"With my neck, I can't. You'll have to." Buffy walked over and into the closet. "Where's the switch?" It was actually on the wall next to Cordelia.

"Way at the back," Cordelia said.

"I still don't see it. OR Xander."

No time left. Buffy was getting suspicious. She slammed the door shut and darted across the room. Buffy howled in outrage and burst through the closet door seconds later.

Go for distance. Down the hall and down the steps. She had to keep on as straight a line as possible, so a slight turn and she headed out the front door, Buffy not far behind. Onto the driveway, then out to the main road.

At least, that had been the plan. Buffy jumped on her halfway down the driveway and the two of them tumbled to the street.

"You first," Buffy said. "No one stands between me and Xander."

Then she took a stake out of her pocket and plunged it downwards.

X X X X X

There was tension in the room, Willow noticed, and most of it came from Giles. He and Ms. Calendar had barely said two words to each other over the last couple of hours, all strictly business. Odd that Giles was the one feeling super-tense, since Ms. Calendar had been more insistent about talking about their stalled relationship.

Over the last few weeks, ever since the gang had discovered that Jenny Calendar was a spy for the Calderash, Buffy and Giles had shut her out entirely, and Xander and Cordy hadn't been especially close to her anyway. It had been something of a tightrope walk, staying friendly with Ms. Calendar after both what she'd done and Buffy and Giles' visible antipathy, but Willow had managed.

She saw how guilty the computer teacher felt. She saw how torn she'd been that she'd betrayed her friends, how truly sorry she was. And she'd done too much for them, been too much to them, for them to shut her out forever. So the lines of communication had to stay open.

That was a military strategy. She was happy that she knew that.

And Ms. Calendar had told her how badly she wanted to reconnect with Giles. So why was the tension coming from him and not her? She seemed almost--happy--to let things be crisp and formal.

Anyway. One of the things Xander had said had struck Ms. Calendar--Amy seemed to be invoking the Roman Gods. None of the spells she tracked down seemed to be exactly the right one, unfortunately.

Neither was Giles having any luck. It was entirely possible that Amy had made the spell up herself--overestimating her ability, if not her power, and making Buffy the target somehow instead of Cordelia.

Still, knowing the general spell made it possible to research the counterspell. So she and Giles were doing that while Ms. Calendar kept trying to find the original spell. No real luck so far for either of them.

The phone rang. Tiredly, Giles walked over and picked up the receiver. Willow shut the book she was looking at and closed her eyes. A break might do them all a little good.

Giles said, "Sunnydale Library?" Then, after an odd delay, he looked at the two of them, blood draining from his face. He put his hand over the receiver and said, shakily, "It's Buffy. She's broken in to Cordelia's house." Willow got up so fast the chair clattered to the floor at the same time, Ms. Calendar murmured words of prayer that Cordelia would be safe.

Giles made a hushing motion and said, "I'll be over as soon as I can. What's your address?" He wrote a number down on a handy sheet of paper. "I'll be there," he said. "Hide as long as you can." Then he hung up the phone and turned to Ms. Calendar. "I need your car."

Keys out, Ms. Calendar broke for the door. "Let's go!"

Giles said, "No, I don't want you coming. And--before you take that personally, and please don't, you and Willow are female and Buffy may see you as a threat. My car doesn't move quickly enough, and Cordelia's life may be at stake. Give me your keys." Nodding, Ms. Calendar tossed him the keys Giles nodded and ran out of the library.

Ms. Calendar sighed and unconsciously Willow went over to hug her. "I know, Ms. Calendar," she said, deliberately misinterpreting to let the woman keep some dignity, "I wish there was something we could do, too."

She got an odd look from the computer teacher, but she smiled and said, "We can keep looking for that spell." A pause. "And, Willow--that was a _good _sign. I'm hopeful, definitely hopeful." She hugged Willow back. "Now let's figure out that counterspell."

Their good mood turned sour very quickly when they determined, that while the counterspell would be fairly simple, it required two things they didn't have.

One was the locket that had been the main material component of the original spell.

The other...was Amy.

X X X X X

Speeding was as unnatural, as alien, to Rupert Giles as sex to a monk. Even in his wild days, when some had called him Ripper, speeding had never been his sin of choice.

So finding him zooming down one of Sunnydale's main roads towards Cordelia's place, at 20 miles over the speed limit, in an American car with, of all things, cup holders--one of the problems with Americans was that they didn't see eating as the social occasion it should be--was an unlikely occurrence at best. He'd have thought it more probable that he and Ethan Rayne would forgive each other and dance a tango in Times Square on New Year's Eve.

But Cordelia's life was at stake. Giles already knew that Buffy saw the cheerleader as a rival and threat, so he was taking no chances. If he'd had more time he would have carried--what? What would he have carried? A crossbow? An AK-47? Because it would have taken one of them to stop her, and--and--could he shoot his charge? Even to stop her from taking a life? It would have been both a failure and a tragedy. And if it came down to it--he valued Buffy's life higher than anyone's, even his own.

And in any event such speculation was irrelevant, as he had no weapons to use. He looked up at the road and down at the odometer. Only two more miles, he'd be there. He'd have to rely on the force of the Slayer-Watcher bond to stop Buffy from doing something stupid or horrific. He rounded a corner onto Cordelia's road.

He could just hear Jenny saying, "So you're going to depend on the force of your personality, England? We may as well kiss the world goodbye right now," and he could see that sardonic grin on her face.

Why he was thinking of Jenny Calendar right now, he had no idea. No, of course he knew why--her demand at the beginning of their meeting. Grimly, he did his best to thrust all thoughts of her from his mind. This repression thing wasn't nearly as easy as everyone seemed to think it was.

He slowed the car down to just over the speed limit as he passed a police car going in the other direction. Ah, the renowned perspicacity of the Sunnydale Police Department. A mile to go.

This was one of the nicer neighborhoods in town; the houses here must run a half-million dollars or more, though they weren't quite as opulent as Cordelia's attitude and wardrobe had led him to believe. They fell short of mansion status.

He slowed down the car to avoid bypassing the house--then saw what lay ahead and sped up. Buffy was chasing Cordelia out of her house and jumped on top of the girl as they ran down the driveway. Giles screeched the car to a halt and leapt from the car. Fifty feet, forty, thirty...

Buffy said, "You first. No one stands between me and Xander," and thrust a stake down at Cordelia.

Giles yelled, "Buffy! No!"

And the stake stopped just in time, point held just above Cordelia's chest.

On the ground, Cordelia sighed in relief and said, "Giles! Get her off me! Pl-" Abruptly, she stopped as Buffy punched her in the face. Cordelia squeaked in obvious pain.

"Shut up, boyfriend thief. And don't try going anywhere, either," Buffy said as she stood up. "I have this stake--" one of the longer and nastier Giles had ever seen, though the circumstances could have been altering his perceptions--"And I will use it if you move. Besides, you should be used to being flat on your back with a man standing over you." Cordelia's eyes flared, but wisely--especially for her--she didn't say anything. She was grimacing lying on the street wasn't doing her neck any good either.

Buffy looked over at Giles and said, "Yes sir, Mr. Watcher, sir?" with a sprightliness and humor that seemed grotesquely out of place.

For a second Giles was flustered, and then he said, as calmly as he could, "What were you about to do, Buffy?"

"Kill Cordelia." He already knew she was primed to injure potential rivals, so it was not the answer but the matter-of-factness of it that came as such a shock. Buffy must have noticed the puzzled look on Giles' face, because she said, "You're not the boss of my personal life. This is a personal problem--Cordelia tried to steal Xander back. What else could I do but kill her?"

"B-Buffy, this isn't you. You are under the influence of a, a spell that is warping your perceptions, causing you to believe yourself in love with Xander--and to think that killing Cordelia is a good thing to do."

"C'mon, Giles," Buffy said coyly. "Don't tell me you've never wanted to do it."

"Wanting and doing are two different things." After half a second this brought a squeal of outrage from Cordelia. "You need help." He pointed to his car. "Get in. I'll take you back to the library and--"

"_Why _is everyone trying to keep me and Xander apart?" Buffy shrieked. "I though yiou at least would be on my side." Her face was a mask of fury.

"I, I am on your side," Giles stammered desperately.

"You're not!" She screamed. "Here I am, trying to get rid of an obstacle, and all you're trying to do is save her. Why? Why has everyone turned against me?" her eyes narrowed. "Of course...that's got to be it." She kicked Cordelia in the side and said, "You got yourself a little reprieve there, slut girl. Suddenly there's someone more important I have to take care of." She paused. "But maybe this will take care of that snotty attitude of yours." Without warning, she slammed her fist into Cordelia's face and said, "Now for the rest of it," and ran off down the street.

Giles shouted, "Buffy! Wait!" after her, but she swiftly vanished down the road. Then he rushed back to check on Cordelia. Fortunately, she was still conscious, although squealing and moaning in pain as she tried to sit up.

It was obvious what Buffy's revenge had been Cordelia's nose looked like she'd just gone ten rounds with one of the larger and more brutal boxers. There was blood all over her face. The Watcher picked her up, saying, "don't move," and was so preoccupied he paid no attention to the sirens behind him as he put her down on the grass.

Until a gun's click and a voice shouting, "Back away from the girl and put your hands over your head" snapped him back to reality. Ah, the fabled timing of the Sunnydale Police Department...

X X X X X

Xander couldn't hide out forever. The crowds would thin out eventually and he'd have to go home.

And then what? Buffy'd find him and she'd absolutely insist on taking up where things had left off. And while still there was some part of him, primarily his hormones, that swore that that would be a good thing, for once in his life his hormones weren't in charge.

Of course, his feelings for Buffy weren't all hormones. Actually, that was probably why he wasn't giving in--he cared for Buffy too much to let her do something she might regret. Well, Xander didn't think she'd regret it on one level, but on another she'd hate herself--and him--once the spell was reversed.

Which, with any luck, would be soon.

Still, this was a comfortably long movie, and the last one of the four playing that anyone would expect him to like. Hundreds of millions of dollars in box office or not, it was essentially a "chick flick."

He had to admit that the special effects were pretty cool, though.

Xander had been so nervous that he'd even tried to get Oz to stick around for a while. But he'd just muttered something about needing to get a different brand of cologne and walked off shaking his head.

So here he was, alone and nervous.

Ah well. Nothing he could do about it now. Though he did need to make a decision. It was a good question whether Buffy or vampires would be more dangerous. He forced himself to sit back and relax. Here he was in a passably crowded movie theater. What could happen?

The person behind him tapped him on the shoulder. Annoyed, he turned around--and found himself staring into Angel's eyes. Before he could scream--and he would have screamed like a girl, he was man enough to admit it--the vampire clamped a hand over his mouth. He pointed to the screen. Dicaprio and Winslet were talking to each other as the ship sank.

"Shh." he said. "My favorite part's coming up." At Xander's puzzled, frantic gaze, he smirked and said coldly, "You know--the part where the hero dies."

.Part Seven

Time and again Jenny Calendar and Willow scoured books and computer databases for a sign that they were wrong; that the likely counterspells did not require the presence of the caster. The more they looked, the less luck they had. Everything they found only confirmed that Amy was necessary.

As she was lying in a hospital bed unconscious, fighting possible brain damage, this made things, as Rupert might say, problematic at best. There were some generic anti-love spells, but neither Willow nor Jenny was particularly enthusiastic about trying them. They might help, but it was too great a risk to take at the moment.

It had been nearly an hour since Rupert had left so abruptly. Jenny could understand why Willow was upset by his curtness, but she saw it as a good sign. He'd been worried for their safety. Of course, Rupert Giles wasn't the type of man that put innocents in danger as a matter of course, but this concern had been personal.

A woman knew these things.

So she was definitely hopeful. While she was perfectly capable of living without Rupert Giles in her life--she didn't want to.

Some would measure that against the horror of Buffy's potential actions and say it was a small compensation. It depended on how you looked at it. To her, personally, it was one of the most precious things in the world.

Sweet thoughts, but they didn't solve the problem of how to reverse the love spell. Willow was frantically bouncing between paging through the books and checking over Ms. Calendar's shoulder to check on progress. Willow's boyfriend Oz--a sensitive man in the guise of a slacker--had somehow known that his support might be necessary, so he'd popped up here after dropping Xander off at a movie theatre and indulging in a little practice with his band. And even though he was an utter novice at this kind of "research," a stunning intelligence combined with the ability to speedread had actually let him help.

Such help as it was, of course, being confined to checking similar love spells calling on the assistance of other pantheons. There was some promise in one that invoked Ishtar--until Jenny double-checked it a and discovered that it required the sacrifice of a soldier taken in honorable combat.

Ishtar was Babylon's goddess of love and war.

Willow stopped looking over Jenny's shoulder--right now the technopagan was in a chat room, asking for assistance and not finding much--and with a mischievous look on her face went to drape herself over her new boyfriend. "So, Oz. You tempted to use one of these love spells?"

"Um, no," he said, surprised by the question. "There's just something wrong with forcing someone to feel something for you they wouldn't otherwise feel." A good answer. It took some of the pagans of her acquaintance a long time to finally come to that conclusion.

Willow was teasing, though, and pointed to the page Oz was currently reading, saying, "See? There's a good one right there--it lets you find your perfect mate."

"Why would I need that? Perfection is an unattainable ideal." Willow's face stayed neutral. Oz went on, "Besides, I've already found as close to perfection as I can, anyway . . ." Willow squealed and hugged him, though Jenny had suspected she was leading him up to such a declaration anyway-- still, any man who was unselfconscious enough to say it without seeming embarrassed in the least was a man worth holding on to.

Oz said, "I've got what might be a stupid question. You said that the counterspells you have require Amy's presence?"

"Yes," Jenny sighed.

"Do they require her participation?"

"Well, yes," Willow said. "I mean--"

Had Jenny been the type to slap her head with her hands, she would have done it. She quickly read over the spell and found that Oz was right-- they'd assumed that Amy needed to be actively participating, but there was nothing in the spell that explicitly said that.

Now that they knew they could use the spell, Jenny quickly typed up a copy on the computer and saved it.

Of course, they still needed the necklace, but now that the major hurdle had been cleared--

The phone rang. Willow picked it up. "Sunnydale library?" Then, a second later, she said, "Ms. Calendar? It's Giles."

Picking up the receiver, she said, pushing down a momentary surge of fear, "Rupert?"

"H-hello, Jenny. I'm at the police station--Cordelia was attacked and I needed to give a statement. Could you come get me?"

Immediately Jenny picked up two things--one was that Rupert was pretending to have gone to Cordelia's on some unrelated pretext, and two is that under the right circumstances, he still called her Jenny. So she answered him with, "Of course. How is Cordelia?"

"Apparently a large man broke into her house--her nose is broken and she has a cracked rib. She's back at the hospital."

"I'll be right down." She hung up before remembering that Rupert had her car. She explained what had happened to the two teenagers and Oz volunteered to drive them all in his van. Quickly she read over the list of the other components they needed for the spell--she had the herb and the powder close at hand, and the only other thing was a glass container with water in it. Jenny grabbed the book containing the specific spell and they all headed off for the police station.

X X X X X

In a fit of bravado, Xander told Angel, "No wonder you have a hard time getting dates, if you keep revealing the ends of movies." The vampire ignored the gibe.

"See," Angel whispered to the boy in front of him. "I've seen the way Buffy's been acting around you, and while I spent all that time looking for you I was trying to decide which portion of your anatomy to give to Buffy as a present: your head or your intestines. A fascinating property about intestines is that you have hundreds of feet of them in you. I could TP her house with them--" he noted Xander's sick expression and smiled. He didn't want the boy to actually throw up--attracted witnesses, and ushers. So he broke off and said. "But I was also thinking about something else, too. Now, it's obvious she's under a spell right now."

"Why is that obvious?" Xander bristled.

"None of your self-delusion right now, boy; you and I both know that she never loved you in the way you wanted her to. It must just kill you that I got something that you'll never get." Xander's eyes got hard and cold; Angel reminded himself that while most of the time Xander was a brainless buffoon, he could be dangerous if he was pushed too far.

Not that Angel expected the boy to live out the night, but still, better not to tempt fate. "In any event--"

A woman five seats down turned and looked at the two and said, "Shhh." Angel glared at her and suddenly she found the movie far more fascinating than the nearby conversation.

"As I was saying," he said as he turned--to the empty chair in front of him. Xander was sprinting down the aisle out of the theatre, into the mall proper. Angel swore and chased after him.

The boy was too smart to break for the parking lot; instead, he made for the food court. Angel had had some pretty good meals there himself. He lost him for a second, but finally saw him trying to hide behind a pillar. The boy had blundered a bit; at this time of night, most of the stores in the mall were closed. There were a few people still hanging around, but it was largely empty. As Angel got closer the boy pulled a stake out of his jacket--_damn _Buffy and her preparedness. Not like the boy was any real threat, though, but it might draw some unwanted attention.

"Back off, deadboy," Xander snarled at him. "I've already had a bad day and you're not making it any better."

"Look. Here's my line of reasoning. I was trying to come up with who would cast a love spell on Buffy. I thought about Spike. Not his style. I thought about Ethan Rayne. Too mild for him. I thought about Jenny Calendar--" the dear, sweet, interfering wretch of a Rom, oh, Angel had all sorts of ideas for what to do with her for her people's bringing back that whiny loser who used to inhabit this body--"But she wouldn't need a love spell, and is too _moral _to use one anyway. So. That. Left. You."

And, faster than Xander had apparently anticipated--two could play the distraction game--he jumped at him and slammed the stake out of his hand. It clattered merrily as it slid and bounced along the floor, eventually coming to a stop in front of the men's room door. They both watched it skid, and then Angel backed the boy into the nearest wall. He said, "Don't think that the few people around will stop me from ripping your head off if I don't like what I hear. To them, I'm just another gang member on PCP. Now, why exactly was dear, sweet Buffy behaving like that?"

After a bit more bluff, the boy came out with the story. Angel didn't like what he heard, but Xander's head was safe for the moment. Ripping it off here, in a deserted mall, lacked any kind of poetry. After a second, he laughed. "You really are pathetic. Remind me never to be in any cars you start; they'll likely explode as soon as you turn the keys." He backed off a step, thinking. Killing Xander while Buffy was under the influence of a love spell--it just wouldn't have the same impact as when she was properly focused on him. Oh, she'd be an emotional wreck all right--but then what?

Then there'd be nothing further he could do.

Odd as it seemed, he and the boy might have a common cause right now--breaking Buffy free from the influence of that spell.

He explained this to Xander, who, not surprisingly, looked very skeptical. Angel grimaced and said, "Look. It's not like I'm asking you to take me anywhere I can't already go. And killing you now just wouldn't be all that much fun." Still he seemed reluctant. "Let me put it this way. I'm going to the library, and you're coming with me. I've got Spike's car, so here's your choice. You can ride in the back seat--or stuffed into the trunk."

Wisely, the boy chose the back seat.

X X X X X

Buffy slipped slowly across Sunnydale. Cordelia's house was damn near at the other end of town from her target, and even though--like slut girl had told her once upon a time--there wasn't a whole lot of town, it was s till a good seven or eight miles, across varying terrain.

Along the way she thought, and she agonized. WHY was everyone trying to keep her from Xander? And why was Xander himself acting like--

like he didn't want to be with her? She didn't know if she could live if that were true. She loved him so much--it burned with an intensity stronger and purer than any she could have ever imagined.

That she'd rejected him once upon a time--how? How could she have done such a horrible thing?

Well, no longer. Buffy Summers loved Xander Harris, and that was that.

Quietly she jogged down the street at a regular pace. Slayer strength translated rather nicely into Slayer speed, as well. Buffy could likely have sprinted a five-minute mile if she'd wanted, but that wouldn't work in going for distance. So she made about 8 minutes or so per mile.

Finally, after ten more soul-agonizing minutes of running, she caught sight of her destination. What point was there to killing Cordelia when someone far more important needed to be dealt with first? Cordelia was much less of a threat.

Besides, maybe with a broken nose she wouldn't be quite so uppity about trying to steal other women's boyfriends. Maybe Buffy would even let her live.

Despite her past crushes, of course, Willow was no threat; neither was Jenny Calendar. And besides, if either of them tried anything--well, friendship was friendship, but love was love.

She did owe Ms. Calendar an apology, too--that she'd hidden the information about Angel's soul just didn't seem that important any more. Yeah, she should have told them, but it's not like her and Angel's relationship would have lasted that much longer anyway, what with this intense passion she now felt for Xander.

There it was.

The hospital was at last in view. Kill Amy, and most of her problems would be solved.

X X X X X

It wasn't until the quartet was actually back out in Oz's van that they got the full story of what had happened. Apparently even Giles hadn't been able to stop Buffy--though Cordelia wasn't dead, and that was mostly a good thing.

To everyone's horror, it seemed that what he'd done had been redirect Buffy's energy towards a new target--Amy. And Amy was defenseless at the moment; hospital security would be of little use against Buffy, whether she decided to smash her way in or sneak in. The hospital was about nine miles from Cordelia's house, but they'd questioned Giles for about an hour. So time was tight.

Cordelia had been smart and forgiving enough to describe her attacker as a large, muscular man with dark hair. Giles had been coming to pick her up for a meeting of "The Crime Club." Of course the police bought it. They pretty much bought any plausible or semi-plausible excuse handed to them.

Oz drove to the hospital as fast as he could. Along the way they discussed exactly how they'd handle Buffy if and when she showed up--and how to get into the hospital, in order to both guard Amy and cast the counterspell.

They decided to just try to sneak in back entrances. Counter to what intuition might tell you, vampires did not run rampant through the halls of hospitals preying on the weak, the infirm, and the occasional doctor or nurse. The reasons why were twofold: One, the blood of the ill was not quite as nutritive to vampires, and two, they knew that the more they took the more stringent security would be--also, it was possible the hospital would go out of business, as hospitals with long histories of dying patients tended to.

So the vampires regarded it as their emergency food stash. This meant that back entrances weren't guarded quite as tightly as they might be. Willow and Jenny would sneak in, while Giles went to the main desk to inquire after Cordelia and Oz stayed outside as sort of a--well, as sort of a watchdog. If he saw Buffy--or Xander, for that matter--he was to blast his horn five times.

Oz first dropped Giles off at the main entrance, then pulled around and let the two women out. Willow watched him drive off. Ms. Calendar was carrying the spellbook and the beaker. First they tried one entrance, then another. On the third--a fire door, of all things--they got lucky. Praying that they'd run across an open door on the inside--a general evacuation of the hospital would have been distinctly counterproductive--they slipped inside.

As they walked up the stairs Ms. Calendar whispered, "One thing we should have checked on--where exactly is Amy staying?"

"Intensive Care Ward," Willow answered absently. "Second floor, Mayor's wing. Room 203." The computer teacher gave her a very odd look, and she answered, "While you were talking to Giles, I checked." Ms. Calendar raised an eyebrow. "Legally! I swear!" A smirk was the only response Willow got.

The door on the fourth floor was slightly ajar. Tentatively they pushed it open, ready to run if an alarm sounded. None did.

Carefully, slowly, feeling like the second bananas in a slapstick comedy even though the situation wasn't really all that funny, they threaded their way through the hospital to the middle of the second floor. Then they heard, distantly, two short series of five horn blasts. They redoubled their pace and reached the intensive care ward--with time spent dodging into a linen closet--two minutes later.

They passed by the ICU waiting room and Willow held back Ms. Calendar. Mark Madison, Amy's father, sat there nervously. Willow whispered up, "I'll distract him while you creep down the hall and look in on Amy. Look for the necklace."

"Yes, Boss," Ms. Calendar said, retreating into the shadows.

Hating herself a little for intruding on the man's obvious grief, Willow said, "Mr. Madison? My name's Willow Rosenberg. I'm a friend of Amy's, and since I was visiting another friend downstairs I thought I'd drop by and see how Amy was doing..."

In this way, Jenny Calendar moved from the shadows down the hall and into Amy's room. Mr. Madison never noticed.

Of course, he didn't notice Buffy doing the same, two minutes later...and neither did Willow.

X X X X X

Buffy moved quickly through the half-deserted parking lot. Oddly, there was a van that looked a lot like Oz's--but she thrust all thoughts of that from her head. She needed to be focused on the job at hand.

Kill Amy. Free Xander.

Amy would likely be in the Intensive Care Ward. A quick scan of the hospital map should tell her where it was, and then there would be no problem getting up there and finishing the job.

Her friends would stop acting weird, and her beloved would be hers again.

Just the thought of it made her so happy inside that she was distracted for a moment, lost in the thoughts of being lost in, and with, Xander. She shook it off. That would come later.

She heard five horn blasts, quickly repeated. Rude people to do that in a hospital parking lot, they might wake patients--

Or warn people. The noise came from the van that looked like Oz's. Suspiciously, she crept up and peered into the window. It was Oz. First driving Xander away, now this?

Well, he wasn't really to be blamed, but still, she couldn't afford to have a loose cannon running about making a mess. She ripped the door open and decked the surprised guitarist with one punch. With luck, he'd be out too long to do any more damage. Then she closed the door and went to the main entrance of the hospital.

Giles was inside! Was _everyone_ in on this conspiracy to keep her away from the man she loved? It shouldn't be hard. Creeping around the outside of the building, she located a half-open window and ripped it off its hinges. Fortunately, the room inside wasn't being used.

Buffy vaulted in and looked down the hall. No one in sight. Amateurs all.

It only took her a few minutes to get to ICU. But as she slipped around the corner-- she spotted Willow talking to Amy's father. Poor man, to have such an evil daughter.

And poor Willow! Until now Buffy hadn't known if she was caught up in all of it. But now, just like all of them, she wanted Xander for herself. Not Buffy's fault if the little wretch was too chickenshit to tell him about it before it was too late. Which it now was. Xander belonged to her now.

She pulled around the corner for a second, waiting until Willow and the man were fully occupied in their conversation. Then she slinked down the hall and through the doors. There she was, room 203, Amy Madison. One quick twist of the neck ought to do it...

Slowly, she backed into the room--and got slammed hard on the back of the head. She went down, but sprang to her feet and spun around. Amy must be using her powers to be faking-- but it wasn't Amy. It was Jenny Calendar.

X X X X X

Jenny got lucky when she saw Buffy slip backwards into the room. If she'd been facing the other direction-- She grabbed the clock radio and slammed the Slayer over the back of the head as hard as she could and she went down.

And got back up again. Muttering a few choice oaths, she said the first thing that came into her head when she saw the hurt and anger on Buffy's face. "Buffy! I'm so sorry, I didn't think it was you."

Blinking and shaking her head, Buffy said, "Then why did you hit me over the head? Nice arm, by the way."

"I thought you might be Rupert, or Oz, or someone. There's some kind of spell affecting everyone, and I thought it might have come from Amy. "

"So you noticed it too!" Buffy said. Thank the goddess, a bullet dodged! Buffy seemed to believe her..."Wait a second--why weren't you affected? Never mind. I know a good way to take care of the problem. Then everyone will stop acting so wiggy and I'll be able to get Xander, the way I should!" She picked up one of the pillows and moved toward Amy's head. She meant to smother the poor girl!

"I've got a book of spells here--" Suddenly Jenny had a thought. As they said in all the bad thrillers she loved to read, It Was Crazy, but It Just Might Work. She showed the book quickly to Buffy, not wanting the Slayer to get a good look at the interior. "We might be better off trying this first. Sometimes spells survive the death of the caster. I could use your help, though--"

"Whatever it takesto get me and Xander back together faster, you name it, I'll do it. Um," she said hopefully, "It wouldn't include hurting Cordelia again, would it?" Goddess, did she sound bloodthirsty!

"Sorry to disappoint you," Jenny said wryly. "All I need is some dead ants and some acorns. I've already got the book and the beaker of water. You go get the components--" which she'd made up on the spot and a damn good job, if she did say so herself--"and I'll begin this little ritual."

"Right." She moved towards the window. "Safer to leave this way. No chance of running into any pesky nurses." As she opened the window, though, she turned back and hugged the technopagan. "I really owe you an apology, Ms. Calendar. Now that I've had some time to come to my senses, I realize what you did to Angel really isn't that big a deal. Besides, he was practice Xander's the real thing." With a grim joy in her eye, Buffy leapt out the window.

She sagged into a chair. For weeks she'd thought Buffy forgiving her would be one of the happiest days in her recent life instead, it was one of the most terrifying...

Feeling like the worst kind of voyeur, she went to the clothes closet to search for the necklace. This made for an unnerving five minutes when she had to jump into the closet upon a nurse's entry to monitor Amy's vital signs.

Then she finished searching, and unless Amy'd swallowed it there was no necklace in the room.

They were in DEEP trouble. Ants and acorns wouldn't keep Buffy away forever...

X X X X X

Truly the oddest of odd couples they were, Xander thought, though he doubted there'd be a sitcom made of he and Angel anytime soon.

First a visit to the library. Abandoned. "What?" Angel snarled. "Tonight's the night they all decide to go out for pizza?"

"No, but Giles is standing right behind you with a crossbow," Xander said, and had the satisfaction of seeing the vampire jump, spin and curse. "Made you look," Xander teased.

He didn't know why he was being such a smartass; if Angel decided to display his irritation, his life thereafter would be counted out in seconds. Oh, he'd get in maybe one good lick, but still--

Angel just snarled and started pawing through the books lying around. After a second he looked up at Xander. "Make with the studying, 'research boy.' We need to figure out what kind of spell they were looking at." Xander moved slowly and deliberately over to the books. Angel growled again and he moved more quickly, not that there was a causal relation there, of course--as he passed, he hit the mouse and the screen saver vanished from the screen. "Look at this--" Angel screamed in frustration and threw a book across the room. Mental note: Blame Angel for this, Giles might take the damage of one of his rare books personally and decide to take it out on the vampire's hide. That prospect filled Xander's mind with warm fuzzies.

Shaking away the happy thoughts, he said, "When you're done trashing the library, come take a look at the computer screen."

They studied the spell on the screen for a second. "So, boy, what is this little token of affection we're going to need to reverse the spell?"

"A necklace with a heart."

"How touching. Liked it so much she dumped you, eh? You have a real knack for gifts."

"Knock off the psychological crap, Angel, it doesn't really work on me."

"Getting annoyed, boy? I _could _just kill you now."

Xander had had enough. "No you couldn't, and you damn well know it. I just figured something out. You've got an advantage over Buffy, over Willow, even over Giles, the way you are right now. But you know something? I _never _liked you, even when you sat around and whined about how much pain you'd caused over the years. Oh, woe was you, blah blah blah. It must just kill you, knowing that that whiny loser had control of your body for eighty long years...anyway. You don't have any kind of advantage over me. And if you hurt any of my friends again I will take it as my personal goal to chop your bloodsucking ass into little tiny pieces. Got it?"

Angel wasn't cowed. "Big talk from someone I could kill in five seconds." Xander said nothing. "But that's neither here nor there. Where is this necklace?" Outwardly, Xander said nothing, but inwardly he was jumping for joy. _He'd just made Angelus back down_.

"The necklace is at my house."

"I've got the spell memorized. Let's go." He grabbed Xander's arm and dragged him to the car. In minutes they had the necklace and were on their way to the hospital. Angel parked Spike's car and they walked around towards the main entrance to the building--

When suddenly Angel went flying forwards to smash into the hospital wall. Snarling, Angel rose. Xander was suddenly being kissed fiercely, and then a voice next to him said, "Stay down. I'll take care of my ex-lover over there."

Oh, _shit_. Buffy.

X X X X X

Thank _goodness _Ms. Calendar hadn't been affected by that spell Amy had cast. Her solution was a bit less final than Buffy would have liked, but hey, she was the magic expert.

Besides, after it was over--nothing said Buffy couldn't take care of the little witch then. Or maybe if Ms. Calendar's spell didn't work. It's not like she was a regular magic-using-person or anything. But Buffy'd been so mean to her, she figure she owed her a chance.

She was glad she'd gotten that apology out of the way. How could she hold a grudge against her, now that Angel meant nothing to her? Just another vampire for the killing. Oh, too bad about his loss of soul, and he has been a decent ally at times, but things had changed. Ah well.

Dead ants had been no problem; there were always ants near the trash, and she could stomach being Buffy the ant Slayer if it would bring her closer to Xander.

Acorns were a bigger difficulty. No oak trees near the hospital, and she was about to range a bit farther afield--not too much, though--when she saw something that stopped her heart.

Angel was coming towards the hospital--and he had Xander with him as a hostage! A red haze overtook her vision, and she charged towards them...not stopping until she'd bodyslammed Angel into the side of the hospital building. Hurrying over, she kissed Xander passionately and said, "Stay down. I'll take care of my ex-lover over there." Xander stood there nervously, fingering something she couldn't see.

If she looked at him much longer, the undeniable, powerful passion she was feeling would overwhelm them both. And there was her fangfaced ex-boyfriend to deal with.

"About time we had this out...deadboy," Buffy snarled angrily at Angel.

"Now, now, is that any way to talk to the love of your life?" Angel smirked.

She kicked him in that smirk, knocking him backwards. "You, the love of my life? Oh, please! Even when you HAD a soul you weren't all that hot. Always whine, whine, whine about all the horrible stuff you did. Talk about pathetic, you define the term. I'm surprised I didn't keel over from yawning so hard."

"As I recall, that isn't what you said in bed," he replied, trying to smash her in the face.

She dodged easily. "Typical male delusions--and that's another thing. I can't _believe _I actually slept with you." She shuddered in disgust. "Shows where my head was at before Xander brought me to my senses."

"You're not even close to your senses. Your boytoy cast a spell on you--but he wasn't trying to. Like with everything else, he blew this one. He was after Cordelia," Angel said with a laugh.

This was a bizarre tack for Angel to take. Why would he come up with such a blatant lie? "Like I'm going to listen to you," the Slayer snorted. "I have to say, as archvillains go, you're kind of a disappointment. I mean, black roses. Say one thing for the Master, he was ugly as sin and a bad dresser, but at least he had some halfway decent plans. You? You're a fanged reject from a TV movie about stalkers. You know, one that has Tori Spelling in it. Please! You're two hundred forty years old and you're still sniffing after high-school girls. I'll bet if your parents were alive you'd still be living in their basement. Oh, that's right, you killed them. Forget I said anything." Inwardly, Buffy was grinning. For once she had the upper hand psychologically on this brooding bastard.

Angel growled in fury and swung at her, catching her below the chin and knocking her backward. He rushed after her and she rolled over, kicking her feet into his stomach. "I don't remember getting any complaints at my apartment, when you begged me to take you."

"Take me _home_, half wit, take me home," Buffy spat as she and Angel circled. Out of the corner of her eye Buffy could see Xander standing there, a confused look on his face. Well, that would end as soon as Amy was dealt with..."Listen, can we knock off the witty banter and just get to it?"

"At your service," Angel snarled. And _then _the fight began in earnest.

X X X X X

Talk about a moral dilemma, Xander was smack in the middle of one, alright. There were few people he wanted to see deader quicker than Angel. On the other hand, he didn't have the spell memorized, either, the one that would free Buffy from Amy's influence, and Angel did.

On the third hand--octopus boy, that's him--this might be their best chance overall to take down Angel--and that would be wonderful for him personally, and good for the world at large. Angel was a foul, vicious, evil creature who needed to be taken down, and taken down hard.

On the fourth hand, he didn't know if he could survive Buffy's attentions. Those Slayer skills made her an amazing kisser, but the spell made her an uncontrollable animal when the mood struck her, which if his experience at her house was any indication would be just short of _all the time_. This was rapidly turning Xander's wild hormonal fantasies into twisted nightmares.

Buffy and Angel were snarling insults at each other when he looked at Angel's face, he could see how frustrated the vampire was becoming. All of his usual psyche tactics weren't working, and for just as second he thought he saw fear flash in Angel's eyes.

This was one of the hardest choices he had to make. The way she was right now, Buffy could very well kill Angel. Most of the time this would be a happy thought, but not right now. Because he needed Buffy sane.

Adding to his misery was the minor point that this was pretty much all his fault. Amy had blown the spell, but his blackmail had made her cast it. He always tried to do the right thing. But what was it here?

Buffy and Angel were still fighting. Buffy's conviction that she was fighting to save his life had turned her attacks brutal and savage, and Angel was actually beginning to fight defensively, as though he were looking for a way out. But Buffy had him partly pinned against the hospital building, and wasn't really giving him much room to maneuver.

Closing his eyes, he gritted his teeth and stepped forward. He braced himself for one of the hardest things he was ever going to have to do.

He was going to have to side with Angel.

X X X X X

Rupert Giles had talked his way in to seeing Cordelia--the girl wasn't asleep, but she wasn't going anywhere, either; she was being held overnight. Quickly he explained what he was doing there, and to his great surprise, she asked if there was anything she could do to help. A noble sentiment, marred only slightly by the five minutes of whining about how everything happened to her he'd had to endure in getting there.

"No, Cordelia. In your condition--"

"I guess I do need my beauty rest, don't I? Oh well. Just thought it was the right thing, you know? To make the offer and all." Her voice sobered a bit. "After all, in a way it's my responsibility. I mean, if I hadn't dumped Xander because those sheep told me to--"

Cordelia believed she was taking marching orders from sheep? Clearly the girl was delusional. In any event, she needed to be reassured. "Yes, Cordelia, your breaking off your relationship--on Valentine's Day--was a rather heartless act." He ignored the stunned look on her face and continued. "However, Xander's response was distinctly an overreaction--akin to shooting someone because they slapped you in the face."

"Actually," Cordelia said wistfully, "It's kind of flattering, you know? He missed me enough to try to cast a love spell to get me back." Giles' eyebrows raised at that last comment obviously no one had filled Cordelia in that Xander's objective had been revenge on the cheerleader.

Two quick series of five horn blasts saved him from answering. He quickly slipped out into the hall, having explained why to Cordelia so that he wouldn't appear rude. Still, he heard her faint protests behind him and he sighed inwardly. Some things, it seemed, were inevitable.

By the time he got back outside, though, there was nothing to be seen. He swore mildly and paced for a few minutes--dodging a question from a suspicious, officious balding security guard who from his attitude could have been Snyder's younger brother. Then he heard the faint, unmistakable sounds of a fight from around the corner and ran in that direction. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the guard preen like a peacock, no doubt pleased with having driven away such a dangerous ruffian as himself.

As he turned, he saw--Buffy and Angel in the midst of a brutal fight. Under the influence of the spell, Buffy was showing no sign of the hesitation, the emotional weakness, that had marked her prior confrontations with the vampire. Instead, she was treating him as just another vampire to be killed.

Xander moved cautiously towards the combatants as Giles raced forwards. What was the boy thinking? He reached out and put a hand on his shoulders.

With a vertical leap like that, he'd be a knack for any track and field team, Giles thought. The wild look on Xander's face was replaced with ordinary confusion. "Giles!" he blurted. "What--"

"Xander, Jenny is inside, preparing to cast the spell that will bring Buffy out of her stupor. But we need a, a necklace that was the main material component of the original..." he trailed off as Xander pulled the very necklace in question from his jacket.

To Giles' look of bewilderment. Xander answered, "Angel also figured out what was going on and figured his revenge wouldn't be complete if Buffy was under the spell. So, we were also on our way here to reverse the spell." He looked back at the fighting duo. "Hey, Angel," he shouted. "Don't need you any more. Hasta la vista, bloodsucker."

If Angel heard Xander's taunts, he gave no sign, being too involved in fighting for his very existence. And much as it would pain Buffy to have killed Angel, saving her overall sanity was a greater priority than stopping her from killing Angel.

That blasted security guard was still strutting around outside the main entrance. Giles said, "You get the necklace to Jenny in ICU. I'll distract this fool." Giles motioned for Xander to hold back, and, gritting his teeth against the indignity, walked up and insulted the man, taunting him, saying that he was going to get back in the hospital and nothing that the guard could do would stop him.

They had damned well better appreciate this, Giles thought as he ran for cover with the balding man not far behind him. He was rarely fond of playing the buffoon.

Another on the list of things Xander would have to answer for.

X X X X X

Xander walked through the main lobby--the nurse on duty didn't see him slip through--and then crept up to the Intensive Care Unit. He almost called out to Willow, but figured out just in time that she was doing the crucial work of distracting Amy's father.

He hadn't let himself think too long and hard about Amy, because if he did he would have been overwhelmed with guilt. That she was in the ICU at all--

Not something he could deal with at the moment.

He held up the necklace and caught Willow's eye as he passed. She nodded briefly and went back to her conversation with Mr. Madison.

Made it through the doors, checked out the room doors along the way. 201, R. T. S. Hare. 202, M. Deveraux. 203, R. Leary. 204, A. Madison. There she is! An orderly was walking down the hall, checking people's rooms. Xander darted into 204--and faced a startled Jenny Calendar. First thing he did was hold up the necklace; then he whispered, "Orderly coming. Hide." Ms. Calendar, eyes widened, nodded and dodged into the clothes closet. With nowhere else to go, Xander dove down and flattened himself against the far side of the bed.

An anxious two minutes later, he left and shut off the lights and the two of them emerged from their hiding places.

"How did you know?" the computer teacher whispered to him.

"Coincidence. Angel was in full vengeance mode, and he didn't think that a Buffy madly in love with me would be as focused on him as she should be." Then he smiled. "Of course, deadboy's not going to be a problem much longer; Buffy caught up with him outside."

"Is he dead?" she asked, a bit worried.

"Let's just say that if he's smart he'll get himself fitted for an ashtray, and let it go at that, okay?" Ms. Calendar got angry, to Xander's great confusion. "What? I thought your people wanted him to suffer."

"My people...did. I don't," she said in an oddly pleasant voice. "And let me tell you something. If we don't get this spell done, and Buffy kills Angel before I get a chance to look for that ritual to restore his soul, well, let's just say that in five years you will look back on Angel's curse and envy him." She got out a beaker and filled it with water; then she drew a can of sterno out, lit it, and placed it on the floor. They quickly improvised a little metal tray to hold the beaker and set the water to boiling. This took five minutes. Then Ms. Calendar told Xander, "This is what you have to say," and briefly chanted the opening of a ritual, ending when she sprinkled a powder into the boiling beaker.

She looked at Xander, who gulped and began. Ms. Calendar pressed the necessary herb into his hand. "Diana, goddess of love, begone. Hear no more thy siren's song." While saying this, he put the herb in the beaker, then took a deep breath and dropped in Cordy's necklace. A surge of energy knocked them down and they heard shouts from outside in the hall.

They abandoned all attempts at subtlety and ran for it.

X X X X X

Angel was in desperate fear of his life. He'd thought that somewhere, deep within, some part of Buffy would remain loving him that he could reach...and torture. But all of his best lines, his nastiest gibes, had rolled off her like they meant nothing.

And then that bastard Xander had broken the deal--before he could!--and left him fighting for his life. Gutsy move, but something else he'd have to answer for. Xander thought he couldn't be reached? Let's see how unreachable he was when he found Willow's corpse lying on his front doorstep.

Buffy kicked him in the stomach and knocked him down, then drew a stake and plunged it towards his heart. He rolled out of the way just in time. That had been too close to take.

"You know," she snarled, "If you'd had moves like that back in January maybe I'd still be with you instead of Xander." So this is what it felt like to be on the receiving end. He had to say, he did not much enjoy it. On the whole, he'd rather be in the warehouse exchanging veiled threats with wheelchair-boy.

He rolled to try to get clear, and kept JUST missing his heart with the stake. She wouldn't let him up. Finally he braked and rolled in the other direction, grabbed her stake arm, and dragged her on the ground. "Used to be," he hissed, You loved it when I held you in my arms like this." Desperation giving him a final burst of strength, Angel twisted the stake free and threw the Slayer flat against the ground.

Should he run? It would be a blow to his ego--and one ol' Spikey would never let him live down. It would also clear the field for Xander--and while it would be a kind of poetry to let him suffer through his fondest wish, right now his love of poetry was at something of all-time low.

Truth be told, he'd be happy to get out of this alive. He kicked at Buffy's head--a fraction too late, as she flexed her body, flipped over, and kicked him twice in the chin as she got to her feet. Angel staggered backwards.

Buffy said, "Loved being held by you? Please! No, deadboy, compared to Xander, you were just an appetizer. And--" she socked him in the jaw--"not a very filling one, either..." she punched him in the stomach, once, then twice. Weakly, he tried to dodge, but that burst of desperate strength he'd had earlier was long gone, and she brushed his arms aside easily. "Aww, what's the matter, loverboy? Strength gone too quickly? Seems to me you had that problem before..."

"I thought," Angel growled, "that you were going to knock off the witty banter."

"That's your problem, Angel," she said, pinching his cheeks. "You can dish it out, but you just can't take it. Oh! You're probably in pain right now. Well , let's just see what we can do--" and her voice turned harder, colder, deadlier than he'd ever heard it before--"about putting you out of our misery." She kicked him backwards, once more, and he fell to the ground in exhaustion.

It was going to end like this? He tried one last tack. "Buffy," he called up weakly in _his _voice, "I love you."

She picked up the stake from the ground. "Yeah, well. Too bad I can't say the same." He closed his eyes and braced for nonexistence.

Ten seconds later he was still braced--and wondering why. Carefully, in case Buffy was playing the kind of games he would have played, he opened an eye--and saw her still standing there, crying, stake in hand. As she muttered to herself and tried to figure out what had happened, Angel summoned all of his strength and stood up. Shakily, he smirked and said, "So. Now you know I was telling the truth. I hope you don't mind if I gloat. No. Actually, I hope you _do _mind--" a kick to the stomach knocked him down and shut him up.

Tearfully, Buffy said, "Get out." As he was about to needle her again, she glowered and said, "Get. Out. One more word and you become permanently dead. Got it?" He was too weak to do anything _but _give her a hard time, so he gave a mocking bow and faded back into the darkness.

Only once he was out of sight did he sink to the ground in exhaustion. Oh, there was much to be gained from tonight. He could use this against Buffy for weeks on end. And now he had even more reason to despise Xander Harris--and so did Buffy. A little rift among the "Slayerettes" almost made the night worthwhile.

Of course, first things first. He needed food, and he needed it now. Where, though? He wasn't going to be lucky enough to have someone run into his arms.

Just then Giles sprinted past him, but he didn't even seem to register the vampire's presence. Five seconds later, one of the hospital's security guards tripped over him. He stood up, looked at the prone Angel, and said haughtily, "Oh. another one. I chased him away--" he pointed to the still running librarian--"and I can chase you away too. Just make it easy on yourself, okay?"

"I plan to." So saying, Angel's demonic visage emerged, and he fed.

X X X X X

Giles had been leading the guard on a merry chase around the outside of the hospital building. It seemed obvious that the security guards in Sunnydale were drawn from the ranks of those who weren't good enough to make the police force. He was also in far better physical shape than the guard, but then, so was most of humanity.

By this point, he'd circled completely around the building, the guard still in "hot" pursuit, yelling and panting heavily. He zoomed by a prone figure--and twenty seconds later noticed that the guard was no longer chasing him. Finally, he's given up, Rupert Giles thought, reducing his pace to a fast walk. He turned his head back around--and almost smashed into Buffy, who was standing there crying, with a stake in her hand. "B-Buffy," he began, but all further conversation was cut off when she hugged him.

"Giles," she said, "What--is what Angel told me right? Did Xander cast a love spell on me? Is that why I did all those things?" She cried again and Giles held her. "Oh, God...Amy, Cordy..."

"Buffy--" Giles said sternly as he pulled away. "That was not your fault. You cannot be, be held responsible for actions committed under the influence of a spell."

"Try telling that to Amy's father," she said. Gently she disengaged her grip on Giles and said. "No, Giles. I was the one that attacked Amy. I was the one that broke Cordelia's nose--"

"_Xander _was the one who had the spell cast, Buffy, not you. _Xander _was the one who wished revenge on Cordelia, not you." Slowly the pair began walking towards the hospital parking lot, and Oz's van. Buffy had nearly killed someone today, and had wanted to kill Cordelia. It was going to take her some time to recover from this.

A fiery anger burned within him, and a single phrase rose unbidden to his lips. It had almost become a mantra these past few hours:

Xander had much to answer for.

X X X X X

Cordelia had watched the fight, nervously, from her hospital window, first worried for Buffy, then for Angel. His own evil twinness aside, if he was going to die it should be an all-there Buffy making the choice, not miss wacko-obsessive Stalker Girl.

When Buffy drew back to stake Angel Cordelia was unable to turn away. Right then she felt a flush of energy rip past her and hit Buffy, who stood there for a second and then started crying. What happened next happened quickly. Angel--who seemed dead tired, no pun, really--insulted Buffy, and Buffy told him to get lost.

The she just stood there and cried, and cried, and cried, until Giles showed up a minute later to comfort her. Well. Thank goodness it was over. But as she was about to close the window and creep back into the bed, she heard Giles say something that--that shook her. That scared her. And, ultimately, that pissed her off. There was no reason for him to lie--so, so--it had to be true.

"_Xander _was the one who had the spell cast, Buffy, not you. _Xander_ was the one who wished revenge on Cordelia, not you."

This wasn't about love. Xander didn't love her. It had all been about revenge.

Revenge.

Cordelia Chase got back in her hospital bed, snuggled underneath the sheet, and cried herself to sleep.

X X X X X

Willow looked up as she felt the mystical energy surge past her. Unfortunately, she not only felt it but heard it--as did everyone else in the hospital. Orderlies, nurses, and a security guard broke through the ICU doors and started chasing someone down the hall. Willow quickly looked through them and saw Xander and Ms. Calendar disappear down the fire stairs.

A nurse came barreling through the doors and almost hit Willow. She turned to Mr. Madison and said, "Mr. Madison, there were intruders in your daughter's room. Could you come with me for a moment?"

Forgetting all about Willow in his anguish, he followed the nurse back towards his daughter's room. Willow left the ICU waiting room at a fast walk then, when she reached the main lobby, she started running.

X X X X X

Jenny Calendar, holding the book over her head, and Xander, carrying the other stuff used in the spell, ran down the hospital corridors, being pursued by orderlies, nurses, and an annoyed security guard. Jenny led Xander down the fire steps she and Willow--Willow! Goddess, what about Willow?--had snuck in by. They shoved open the ground floor exit door and sprinted for Oz's van.

Rupert and Buffy were slowly climbing inside--though why was Rupert getting into the driver's seat? Where was Oz?

Answer: in the back with a black eye. Where he'd gotten it, sitting out in the parking lot, Jenny had no idea. Pointing to the people chasing after them, Jenny unceremoniously shoved Rupert into the passenger seat as Xander clambered into the back.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Willow sprinting towards them. She turned on the car and gunned it down the parking lot, telling Xander to be ready. The van's path and Willow's intersected and the boy threw open the door and yanked her inside, a bit roughly.

"Oz!" she said. "What happened to your eye?"

"Oh, that," the guitarist said. "Buffy hit me. No big deal, really." Willow gave a little squeal and began tenderly examining Oz's wounds.

Jenny ignored it and took off. They outdistanced their chasers easily. First they went to Cordelia's house, where she and Rupert got into her car to drive back to the high school. Oz, now driving, stopped the van 500 feet up the road and Xander came flying out of the van's door to land in a graceless heap by the side of the road.

As the two adults drove past, he gave them a pleading look, which they both pointedly ignored.

"Jenny," Rupert said as they pulled into the parking lot, "I believe you wanted to have a serious talk about our relationship status--but I don't think now is the right time. But I can tell you this. What you did in not telling us about Angel's curse was nearly unforgivable. But what you did tonight--"

"Rupert," Jenny interrupted, "I didn't help you tonight to improve my odds of getting back together with you."

"I know," he said tenderly. "And _that's _why I think I'm ready for the talk you wanted." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "So, um, later?"

"Later," she said calmly. It was only after she was sure he could no longer see her that she broke out into a big grin, despite the events of the day.

She wore the smile all the way home.

X X X X X

The next day, Xander entered the library as usual--and found six pairs of eyes glaring up at him. Including, he was happy to see, Cordelia's. "So...what's with the deathglares? I'm beginning to feel like I'm in front of a firing squad."

"That sounds about right," Cordy muttered.

Giles began bluntly. "Xander, is it possible you are so dense you cannot come up with a reason why we would be furious at you?"

"The reason I threw you out of the car last night?" Buffy said coldly.

"The reason, um, I have a black eye?" Oz said.

"Well sure," he said. "I figured you'd all be annoyed at me after what had happened. But we'd work through it."

"Annoyed?" Buffy said. "Annoyed? If I'm going to kill Angel I'm going to do it at my own time, in my own way. If they'd gotten that spell reversed five seconds later, Angel would be dead right now." Xander backed up a step. He'd almost never seen Buffy this furious.

"And this would be bad how?" he asked nervously.

Another step forward. "Because I would have killed him because I _thought _I was in love with you. And, trust me, right now I'm not so sure you're worth it."

Putting a hand on Buffy's shoulder, Willow stepped forward. "Annoyed is an understatement, Xander. You really messed up, here." Willow was one of only two people in the room not looking at him as though he were something lower than pond scum.

"You see my nose?" Cordelia shrieked. "You see this brace around my neck? This is because you decided you needed to get revenge on me."

"I was hurting, and no one would talk to me!" Xander finally exploded. "Buffy, you were too busy with all the Slaying, and Willow, you were too into Oz to talk to me! Cordy dumped me on _Valentine;s_ Day. Does it get more heartless than that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Xander," Buffy said sarcastically. "Did Willow's and my _lives _get in the way? Last I checked we were friends, Xander, not joined at the hip. Sometimes there's just no one around to help you deal with your pain right when you need it." Her voice got softer until at the end she was almost talking to herself.

Then it was Ms. Calendar's turn: "And coercing Amy into casting a vengeful love spell was much worse than Cordelia's merely dumping you on Valentine's Day, and that's not even taking into account the consequences of your actions."

"So, am I being led off now to my doom?" The joke fell absolutely flat.

"No, Xander," Giles said. "We just wanted you to be here when you heard something."

No one spoke for thirty seconds, and Xander was just about to say something when muttering came over the loudspeaker.

"Students," Snyder said, "I am sorry to have to report to you that last night one of our own, Amy Madison, died at Sunnydale Hospital of a massive brain hemorrhage early this morning. When they tell me the time of the funeral, I'll let you know." The intercom cut off.

No! It couldn't--what--he sat down on the floor, stunned. He'd never thought--always, before--

Finally Willow walked up to him and sat down, hugging him and saying nothing. One by one Oz, Buffy and Cordelia filed past. Then Willow stood up and left too, after squeezing his shoulders one last time. Looking up, he found Giles standing there, with Ms. Calendar at his side.

Before either could speak, Snyder spoke again. "Kids--the notice I just read you was someone's idea of a sick joke. I have just been told that Miss Madison is, in fact, still alive, and though unconscious, is expected to make a full recovery."

"You knew," Xander sputtered at the two adults. "Why--"

"It was something you needed to learn, Xander," Ms. Calendar said.

"Right," Giles continued smoothly. "You have this tendency to behave rashly. Most of the time your motives are noble, and most of the time you do good. Neither was the case here."

"Don't you think it's a bit of an overreaction?" Xander asked. "Look at all I've done right."

Patiently, Ms. Calendar said, "The world doesn't balance out that way. Hundreds of good deeds don't make up for one murder; you'll go to jail all the same."

"Xander, what you did is unforgivable--almost," he added after Ms. Calendar elbowed him. "Amy Madison did not deserve to die like we pretended. Neither did Cordelia--whom Buffy was trying to kill, remember, and neither did Angel. And if you think your burden of guilt is heavy--as it damn well should be--think about Buffy. She was the one who almost killed the poor girl. It is going to take her a long time to forgive you, if she ever--" Ms. Calendar elbowed him again. "But I am sure she will. As will we all. Now, if you'll excuse me--" He walked back into his office, leaving Jenny Calendar standing there looking at him with an expression of pure sympathy in her eyes.

"Why?" was Xander's only question. "Why are you trying to help me?"

She smiled, a bit sadly. "Because up until yesterday, Xander, I _was _you."


End file.
